406 



KENTUCKY. 



crosses it by an extensive bridge. Bowling 

 Green is on the railroad, one hundred and four- 

 teen miles from Louisville and seventy-one 

 miles from Nashville. It is also at the head 

 of navigation on Barren River, which flows 

 into Green River thirty miles below. A branch 

 railroad to Memphis commences here ; the 

 distance by which to Clarksvillc, on the Cum- 

 berland River, is 62 miles, and from thence 

 to Memphis one hundred and fifty-seven miles. 

 The importance of Bowling Green is manifest 

 from its position at the junction of two roads 

 leading into Tennessee, furnishing great facil- 

 ities for transportation. The entrance of hos- 

 tile forces into the western part of the State, 

 in September, produced great excitement at 

 Louisville. Union Home Guards began to as- 

 semble, and other Union troops began to arrive 

 from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. On the 18th 

 of September, a body of the latter advanced to 

 Rolling Fork, where they found the bridge 

 had been destroyed by a hostile force under 

 Gen. Buckner, formerly commander of the State 

 Guard. This force was then five miles below, 

 on Muldraugh's Hills, but subsequently with- 

 drew to Elizabethtown. At this time Gen. An- 

 derson, formerly in command at Fort Sumter, 

 was ordered to the Department of Kentucky, 

 and promoted to the rank of a brigadier-general. 

 He immediately entered upon his duties, and 

 on the 21st of September, issued the following 

 proclamation : 



KENTUCKIAKS : Called by the Legislature of this my 

 native State, I hereby assume command of this depart- 

 ment. I come to enforce, not to make laws, and, God 

 willing, to protect your property and your lives. The 

 enemies of the country have dared to invade our soil. 

 Kentucky is in danger. She has vainly striven to keep 

 peace with her neighbors. Our State is now invaded 

 by those who professed to be her friends, but who now 

 seek to conquer her. No true son of Kentucky can 

 longer hesitate as to his duty to his State and country. 

 The invaders must, and, God willing, will be expelled. 

 The leader of the hostile forces who now approaches 

 is, I regret to say, a Kentuckian, making war on 

 Kentucky and Kentuckians. Let all past differences 

 of opinion be overlooked. Every one who now rallies 

 to the support of our Union and our State is a friend. 

 Rally, then, my countrymen, around the flag our fathers 

 loved, and which has shielded us so long. I call you 

 to arms for self-defence, and for the protection of all 

 that is dear to freemen. Let us trust in God and do 

 our duty as did our fathers. 



Three days previously, Gen. Buckner, the 

 commander of the Confederate force, issued 

 a proclamation. It was dated at Bowling 

 Green on the 18th. 



To THE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY: The Legislature of 

 Kentucky have been faithless to the will of the people. 

 They have endeavored to make your gallant State a for- 

 tress, in which, under the guise of neutrality, the armed 

 forces of the United States might secretly prepare to 

 subjugate alike the people of Kentucky and the South- 

 ern States. It was not until after three months of 

 covert and open violation of your neutrality, with 

 large encampments of Federal troops on your terri- 

 tory, and a recent official declaration of the President 

 of the United States not to regard your neutral posi- 

 tion, coupled with a well-prepared scheme to seize an 

 additional point in your territory, which was of such 

 vital importance to the safety and defence of Tennessee, 



that the troops of the Southern Confederacy, on the 

 invitation of the people of Kentucky, occupied a de- 

 fensive post in your State. On doing so the com- 

 mander announced his purpose to evacuate your ter- 

 ritory simultaneously with a similar movement on the 

 part of the Federal forces, whenever the Legislature of 

 Kentucky shall undertake to enforce against both bel- 

 ligerents the strict neutrality which they have so often 

 declared. I return among you, citizens of Kentucky, at 

 the head of a force, the advance of which is composed 

 entirely of Kentuckians. We do not come to molest 

 any citizen, whatever may be his political opinion. 

 Unlike the agents of the Northern despotism, who seek 

 to reduce us to the condition of dependent vassals, we 

 believe that the recognition of the civil rights of citi- 

 zens is the foundation of constitutional liberty ; and 

 that the claim of the President of the United States 

 to declare martial law, to suspend the privileges of the 

 writ of habeas corpus, and to convert every barrack 

 and prison in the land into a Bastile, is nothing but 

 the claim which other tyrants have assumed to subju- 

 gate a free people. The Confederate States occupy 

 Bowling Green as a defensive position. I renew the 

 pledges of commanders of other columns of Confeder- 

 ate troops to retire from the territory of Kentucky on 

 the same conditions which will govern their move- 

 ments. I further give you my own assurance that the 

 forces under my command will be used as an aid to 

 the Government of Kentucky in carrying out the strict 

 neutrality desired by its people, whenever they under- 

 take to enforce it against the two belligerents alike. 



On the 24th of September, Gen. Anderson 

 issued another brief proclamation dated at 

 Louisville, in which he said : 



The Commanding General, understanding that ap- 



Erehension is entertained by citizens of this State,'who 

 ave hitherto been in opposition to the policy now 

 adopted by the State, hereby gives notice that no Ken- 

 tuckian shall be arrested who remains at home attend- 

 ing to his business, and does not take part, either by 

 action or speech, against the authority of the General 

 or State Government, or does not hold correspondence 

 with, or give aid or assistance to those who have chosen 

 to array themselves against us as our enemies. 



General Anderson was soon compelled to re- 

 sign his command, in consequence of ill health, 

 and was succeeded by Gen. Sherman, who for 

 the same reason retired, and was succeeded by 

 Gen. Bnell. 



As early as the 10th of October, a very con- 

 siderable Federal force was in Camp Dick Rob- 

 inson, in Garrard County which was daily 

 becoming more formidable. At the same time 

 the Confederate General Buckner, who had 

 boasted of an intention to spend the winter in 

 Louisville with his troops, began to retire to 

 Bowling Green, and on the 13th, a portion of the 

 iron bridge over the Green River was blown np. 

 Friends in Louisville and throughout the State . 

 had given him strong assurances that if he would 

 come to Louisville, or even to Bowling Green, 

 at the head of a force capable of maintaining its 

 position for a short time, reinforcements would 

 immediately pour in by thousands, rendering his 

 army too powerful to be resisted. Unquestion- 

 ably he came with the full conviction that these 

 assurances would be verified, but he found them 

 all falsified. There was reason to believe that 

 not more than a thousand men joined him. 



Accumulations of Federal troops from the 

 States north of the Ohio river, with stores for 

 a vast army, were made during the month of 



